


Loincloth

by charliekard (rebkaw)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Inspired by Tarzan, M/M, TarzanAlec
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 05:38:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11662719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebkaw/pseuds/charliekard
Summary: What happens when these two collide?





	Loincloth

_Then_

The sky cracked with the brightest streak of lightening that the jungle had seen. Predatory cats fled; gorillas harbored their families under trees; not a single bird could be seen in the dark and clouded sky.

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, a raven-haired family of three leaped from their burning ship to a secluded raft with the hopes of perseverance.

And somewhere in the middle of London, a professor and his young son were in the comfort of a library deep within university walls, dreaming of the day they could become explorers.

_Now_

“Isabelle, this is it! I can feel it, can’t you!” I walked forward through tall brush and simultaneously glanced back at her as I shouted. Her long dark hair was piled up high, loose tendrils and frizz somehow only making her look more beautiful in the African heat.

“Feel _what_ , per se? The godforsaken mosquitos? The mud slowly seeping into my _boots_?” she replied.

Her full smile, perfected with ruby red lipstick, betrayed the fake disdain in the voice. Every expedition we’ve had together before as students prepared us for this very moment. Mosquitos and mud be damned.

“Oh _please_ , what’s with all the hullabaloo.” I fidgeted with the swirling gold cuff on my right ear, wiping away sweat I didn’t have yet off my forehead.

My best friend finally looked up in my general direction and adjusted the backpack weighing on her. Her military green, buttoned-up jumpsuit was a sister to my dark khaki one. The Thelma to my Louise.

Isabelle was a hidden gem of a person, complete with a loud mouth to speak the confidences no one else could and a critically analyzing brain fit for a scientist. Her physical beauty wasn’t even the half of it.

As much as we agreed that we made the journey from London to Africa together as our one last adventuring hurrah, we both knew it was so that I would have someone by me as I completed the dream my father and I once had.

Not that I would ever admit that out loud, _of course_.

We heard a guttural yell deep within the trees.  
Not a second after, the bang of a shotgun resounded behind us.

“Valentine!” I shouted and swiveled around.

Again, the shotgun went off and I could feel the very vibration of it in my bones.

“Valentine, what is it? Are we in danger?” Isabelle questioned and her eyes darkened. As much as the adventure had been originally designed for Isabelle and myself only, her family vehemently recommended we take a guide along with us as protection.

Whatever guidance this man Valentine could possibly give us, though, I had yet to see.

Up until now, his mumblings consisted of him saying he was born for Africa, that everything in Africa was created for him.

_Right._

Described as the best in his business and a walking contradiction, Valentine Morgenstern had board shoulders with a slim frame and scruff on his chin to make up for the lack on his head. His charm is said to bring him the majority of his customers and his muscles what keep his employees in line.

Something, whether it be my gut or the universe or the never-ending stars, told me that although his charm made him look angelic on the outside, he was pure demon on the inside.

A stray bullet ricocheted off a tree as the trigger was pulled for a third time.

He muttered, “I thought I saw something…”

“Like what? Something big? Hippopotamus sized or smaller? I brought everything we could’ve needed for observations even the sketch books. Do you think we could follow it to their watering hole?”

Even right now in this moment, the shear awe in Isabelle’s voice as she said that made me glad I had her by my side. I didn’t even have to look at her to know that her muscles had gotten stiff with excitement and her eyes wide at the possibilities.

I walked back in line with them and interjected, “Iz, what happened?”

“I don’t know, he told me not to move now. He saw something.” Her voice came back as a whisper as she tried to listen the movement in the distance.

I cleared my throat and looked as Valentine scanned the trees like a predator.

Damn shotgun still poised and ready.

“ _Great!_ Now that we have that out of our system, Valentine, I think you’re scaring off the gorillas…”

“Mr. Bane,” he looked back at me with his gun firmly placed in both hands at once, completely horizontal. “You hired me to protect you and I most certainly will.”

Ah yes, cue the charm.

His eyes tried to blink in mock grace and his voice was one reserved to mimic patience. The word protect was enunciated as if Isabelle and I could not guess ourselves why we had brought him here, paid with our very own grant money.

I had a mustard yellow umbrella clutched in my hands, half to battle the sun and half to use a walking stick.

Okay and half because it went with my outfit.

_Okay_ and half to use as a weapon just in case the time arise.

Like the time was arising now.

Silent anger at Valentine set aside, I closed my eyes for a millisecond and smiled a smile that I reserve for professionalism. My tense shoulders lowered.

“Yes yes and you are doing an absolute marvelous job at it, darling! It’s just that we want to get as much done here as possible before we need to go back to London and. . .”

I was cut off and by a voice that I never mind hearing.

“Magnus! Magnus, look!” Isabelle’s exclamation made me move to her. “We’re standing in their very own nests!”

For once, I let myself look around at the scenery around us and she was right

Well. I’ll be damned. She was right.

Suddenly the dense forest did not seem so dense and small circles of light beamed down on us. We were standing in the very area where a family of gorillas had once called home. Within the thick jungle floor, circular paths were made complete with barriers. Which could only mean one thing . . .

“He was right. My father was right!”

Comically, Isabelle and I looked at each at the same moment and said “Family groups! They live in family groups!”

We crouched down to kneel and feel the leaves we were standing on.

There were more nests in front of us.

More nests.

Dad, this one is for _you_.

Somewhere next to me, Isabelle leaned up and hugged my torso, knocking our hats as she did so. She excitedly murmured, “They really are social creatures! Just like Professor Bane always said!” She knew what I was thinking on the inside

On the outside of our moment, Valentine stayed standing and surveyed the site.

The slow and steady predatory smile was back on his face; the demon in him not letting him see the happiness that was bubbling up right next to him in the form of me and Isabelle.

He spoke again, “Do you two think the beast is close then? Somewhere near the groups?”

“The . . . beast?” Isabelle’s excited chattering dwindled and I could feel her smile turn downwards as it happened. Her full eyes narrowed uncharacteristically.

“Yes, the _beast_ ,” I thought Valentine’s eyes were only capable of their matte black perfection, but as he said that last word, they shone and it had nothing to do with the sun. “The locals were blabbering about it all night yesterday; they speak of a beast that is more powerful than any before it.”

His smile was now a real one, no longer for the use of fake charm. It spread wide and he said, “Shh shhh, don’t you worry child. I’ll protect you from it, remember?”

His gaze was trained on Isabelle, but he had misread her comment. Trained-in-combat Isabelle was no coward, had no fear for a “beast” that ran wild in the jungle. No, her apprehension was for the man in front of her.

In a whisper that the other two travelers could not hear, Valentine whispered, “imagine how much I can get when I bring that creature back?”

Impossibly, his smile grew.

**Author's Note:**

> Would love to hear what you think. Completed inspired by Umkasandiary’s Tarzan-inspired artwork here: www.goo.gl/qDzp4X


End file.
